Dog Business Is Big Business
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}There are some people you know you can count on to … uh … take care of business when doody comes-a-falling.
Among those people are the fine folks at the aptly named pet-waste removal company DoodyCalls. To these guys, dog poop is no laughing matter — in fact, it’s a cash cow, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.
According to these entrepreneurial feces finders, paying someone to pick up your pup’s poop is no more odd than dishing out the dough for someone to prune your yard or wash your car.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It's [becoming] more socially acceptable to have somebody come do it," said Jacob D'Aniello, who founded DoodyCalls in Virginia with his wife six years ago.
The Humane Society says that 40 percent of all households have at least one pooping pooch, each of which answers nature’s call outside 14 times a week. Do that math, and you realize that backyards, parks and grassy medians would be simply awash in excrement if it weren’t for someone picking up the presents.
"Picking up dog doo is by far the worst. Why would somebody not hire us?" Matt Boswell, founder and self-described chief excrement officer of Pet Butler, asked. "We take away the worst job in the world. It's a no-brainer."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Not only is it an undesirable job that needs to be done, but Boswell notes doggy doo kills grass and pollutes water supplies to boot.
What does this all mean? Your dog’s business is … well … big business.
Boswell says more than 300 dung-collecting companies compete in the $20 million market.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Note to Self: In Case of Cop Stop, Plug in Drug Rocket
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Two men were smart enough to design a home-made rocket that would shoot their drugs into space if they were caught by police ... but they were not smart enough to remember to plug it in while traveling through Missouri.
That little detail led two Kentucky men to prison, after they were stopped last summer with a cigarette-lighter-powered, drug-hiding rocket in the trunk of the car on I-70 near Columbia.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Joseph Seidl pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges of conspiring to deal methamphetamine. Michael Sullivan pleaded guilty last month to his role in the conspiracy.
Investigators said the duo planned to activate the rocket from the driver's seat, sending the two pounds of meth it contained from the trunk before officers could seize it. But the device wasn't plugged in, so it didn't go anywhere.
Thanks to Out There reader Katie D.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And You Thought Your Commute Was Grisly
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — A bag containing what was thought to be human body parts slowed rush-hour traffic in Fort Myers until authorities determined the appendages were fake.
A driver reported seeing a suspicious object in the middle of the road yesterday afternoon. Lee County Sheriff's investigators covered the supposed remains with a white blanket to shield them from drivers.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The medical examiner later determined that a leg and a foot in the bag looked real, but were fake. Authorities say the leg and foot were made of some kind of latex material.
It wasn't immediately clear if the body parts were a traffic joke or prosthetics that had fallen into the road.
With This Ring, I Thee Impoverish
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NEW YORK (AP) — If a man proposes marriage, but turns out to be married to someone else, who gets to keep the $40,000 ring?
A Manhattan judge has ruled that the woman gets it, even if she's the one who broke off the engagement.
The case involves a South Carolina woman and a New York man who met on the Internet. Brian Callahan had already received a divorce judgment when he gave Dana Parker a 3.41 carat engagement ring. But the judgment wasn't final, so the judge says that makes their agreement to marry void.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Parker dumped Callahan after finding evidence that he was married and was also trolling for women online. Callahan then sued to get the ring back.
Bargain-Crazed Shoe Seekers Get Medieval Over Sale
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Chaos broke out at a shoe sale in Turkey on Friday, and one person got shot in the foot, a news agency reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The incident occurred in Karabuk, a city about 125 miles north of Ankara, after masses of people swarmed and overloaded a two-story retailer that was selling pairs of shoes for as little as $6, the state-owned Anatolia news agency reported.
When customers rebelled against orders to close the store because of overcrowding and started to fight with one another and with salespeople, a store employee shot his gun into the air, Anatolia said.
Shooting guns into the air is a not-uncommon method for dealing with emotional situations in Turkey, including weddings, soccer games, demonstrations and deals on shoes that are almost too good to be true.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But the bullet struck a customer's right foot, Anatolia said, and the injured person was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment while the shooter was taken into police custody.
Fahrettin Arabaci, a store official, said that the sale would be going on until the end of the month, Anatolia reported.
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Taylor Timmins.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Got a good "Out There" story in your hometown? We would like to know about it. Send an e-mail with a Web link (we need to authenticate these things) to outthere@foxnews.com.